Modern Railway Infrastructure Asset Management

Stasha Jovanovic
Executive Manager - Asset Management MER MEC S.p.A., Italy

Keywords: Railway, Infrastructure, Condition-Monitoring, Asset-Management, Maintenance.

2 Railway Infrastructure Condition Monitoring & Analysis

All activities related to the asset diagnostics, condition analysis, planning and consequent execution of maintenance and/or renewal works can be structured in the so-called condition-based maintenance chain. The condition-based maintenance chain is traditionally composed by the following main phases (illustrated in Figure 1): Monitoring, surveys made by either measuring vehicles or other inspection systems that produce diagnostic data. Analysis, the necessary processing, data storage for future usage and visualization of diagnostic data. Warning/Alerts Generation, the generation of information like defects, quality indexes, alerts, etc. to be used for maintenance purposes. Planning, the production of M&R plans to optimize. Optimization, the optimization of the M&R plans to choose a final one to schedule. Scheduling and Execution, the final phases oriented at the resource allocation and works execution. Management, the final global control of overall performances of the maintenance process.
Object

Abstract
The Paper discusses various Condition-monitoring techniques and their optimal utilization for Railway Infrastructure Asset Management Systems (RI-AMS) purposes, as well as main RI AMS sub-systems and activities they are supposed to handle.

1 Introduction
Complexity of todays railway sector imposes high and often conflicting demands on Rail Infrastructure Managers. The shear vastness of Railway Networks requires advanced tools and methods to aid humans in managing them efficiently. This problem necessitated in the recent years the introduction and application of Railway Infrastructure Asset Management Systems (RI-AMS). Knowing that the condition-based approach was undoubtedly by far the most efficient existing approach to maintenance engineering, modern RI-AMS are almost entirely based on collecting, processing and utilizing asset-condition data. This clearly made Railway Infrastructure Condition-Monitoring the single most important buildingblock of any RI-AMS, because the overall managing capabilities of RI-AMS will greatly depend on the quality of the available Monitoring systems and data they produce. The purpose of monitoring is usually twofold. The first, immediate reason is obviously the detection of the irregularities that could endanger safety and reliability of the railway traffic. However, in addition to this, if a monitoring technique is continuous and fast enough to allow consecutive monitoring runs to be performed in regular time intervals, an extremely important temporal aspect is obtained which is of essential importance for a successful condition-based asset management. This means, that such monitoring techniques can provide detailed insight into the infrastructure assets behavior over time, enabling condition-forecasting and consequent maintenance & renewal (M&R) planning. This concept effectively represents the ultimate goal of any Condition Monitoring as well as that of the entire Railway Infrastructure Asset Management as a whole.

Defects
Monitoring Data Analysis Alert generation

Maintenance and Renewal (M&R) Works

Planning Optimisation Scheduling Execution Control

&

Measure of: Track, Rail, Ballast, Overhead Line, Switches & Crossing, etc. Critical defects Detection Validation and localization of data

Activities

Single and cross/multiple parameter analysis Quality Index Calculation Defects List Generation Issuing Alerts

Degradation Speed and Work History Analysis Clustering of Works Production of Scenarios

Checking Line Availability and Issuing Work Orders Resources Setting Priorities Allocating Resources

Closing out the Work Order with technical (location, ) and economical (labor hours) information

KPIs Efficiency Efficacy

Results

Measurements/ Ispections/ Critical Defects Structured Data Alerts/Defects Scenarios Optimised Scenario Scheduled Work Order Building Work History

M&R Actions and Policy Change

Measuring and Video Inspection Systems

Systems

Asset Manintenace Management Systems Decision Support Systems

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) / Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)

Figure 1: Condition-Based Maintenance Chain Today, railway infrastructure/maintenance managers are faced with the problem of implementing the condition-based maintenance chain with a cost-effective solution taking advantage of the latest technologies. As illustrated in Figure 2 infrastructure includes many assets such as track, overhead line, S&C, civil-engineering structures, etc. that can be maintained with a support of many systems, adopting several policies such as corrective, preventive, predictive, risk-based and others.

Maintenance Policies

Cyclic Corrective Condition-Based Predictive Predictive

Measuring Systems for Track, Overheard line and Vehicle Dynamics Vision Systems for automatic recognition of defects Inspection Systems Monitoring Systems Systems ERP Positioning Systems Palm Applications GIS Decision Support Systems Decision Support

Overhead Line Track Sleepers Rails Bridges Soil Signalling Telecommunications

priorities, namely alerts, resulting from the application of prescriptive norms (e.g. attention vs. intervention thresholds, quality indexes, etc.) exclusively on the defect level. The subsequent phases (e.g. planning, optimization, etc.) supported by dedicated Asset Management / Decision Support Systems (e.g. RAMSYS, see Chapter 4 Analysis AND PLANNING software) will manage all these alerts and others (e.g. cyclic, renewal alerts, etc.) in the short, middle and long-term time-frames, producing M&R scenarios. A wide range of diagnostic systems is available to support the three described phases of the condition-based maintenance chain. Table 1 includes the main categories of systems available on the market and produced by MER MEC: Table 1: Diagnostic Systems
Category Track measurement Type of measurement Track Geometry Rail Profile Rail Corrugation Ballast Profile Overhead Line Geometry Contact Wire Wear Pantograph Interaction Arc Detection Overhead Line Electric Parameters Ride Quality Body, bogie and axle boxes accelerations Wheel-Rail Interaction Forces Wheel-Rail Contact Automatic Rail Surface Defects detection Automatic Overhead Line Defects detection Railway Section and Surroundings Track Surface Overhead Line Platforms Way Side Signaling Telecommunication Quality Environmental Temperature Tunnel Ceiling status detection Railway infrastructure kinematic envelope/gauge Tunnel detection system Positioning System Monitoring of Signaling systems Time Radio-Synchronization system

Ballast Ballast

Technologies

Infrastructure

Figure 2: Modern Concept of Integrated Railway Infrastructure Condition Monitoring All these systems such as Diagnostic Systems (measuring systems, visual inspection systems, etc.), Asset Management Systems (AMS), Decision Support Systems (DSS) and others (e.g. GIS) have their impact on the condition-based maintenance chain. In particular, the Diagnostic Systems and related data-analysis tools (e.g. AMS & DSS) are aimed at supporting the following three phases of the condition-based maintenance chain: Monitoring: Usually, during the measuring process different types of diagnostic data are collected. Acquired data are processed and analyzed for initial defectsgeneration and classification. The main defects detected during this phase are the so-called critical defects that require immediate intervention. They are normally transmitted in real-time (e.g. e-mail, fax, SMS, etc.) to the responsible maintenance personnel to schedule further onsite inspections and/or corrective works. In general, all the acquired data are stored temporarily on the measuring systems and then transmitted for further analysis. Analysis: Unlike the Monitoring Phase which sole purpose is to acquire the data, the Analysis phase already falls within the domain of Asset (Maintenance) Management. After the acquisition, data are validated, accurately localized on the railway network topology and finally stored in the proper data warehouse for the purposes of Asset (Maintenance) Management. Only starting from this phase, acquired data can be correlated with all other existing data. Data correlation is fundamental for obtaining global understanding of how the overall infrastructure is behaving. In fact, it is very important to monitor and keep track of infrastructure conditions over time and also correlate different infrastructure aspects such as track geometry and ride quality, pantograph and overhead wire, track geometry and overhead line geometry, etc. When all measuring systems are installed on a single train/vehicle (run-once-and-get-all), measurements are perfectly synchronized in space and time, so data can be analyzed in an integrated way and correlated in both space and time. Warning/Alert Generation: Stored data coming from the analysis phase are used for the identification of short-time and limited scope of primarily interventive maintenance

Overhead line measurement

Vehicle dynamics measurement

Vision systems Video inspection

Other monitoring

Diagnostic systems can be assembled and integrated on railway vehicles, allowing monitoring at low and high speeds. Depending on the needs and the budget of the railway operator, different types of configuration can be evaluated. All diagnostic systems can be assembled and integrated on: Dedicated vehicles (e.g. those developed by MER MEC) or supplied by the Railway Operator Commercial vehicles (locomotives/passenger/freight trains) All measuring systems are available for any type of track gauge and they can be operated: With operators on-board and real-time analysis (manned) Without operators on-board and with automatic data retrieval (unmanned)

2.1 Track Measurements With the exception of drainage and substructure problems, track deteriorates almost exclusively due to forces induced by traffic. Forces cause destruction of all track components: rails (fatigue & surface defects), sleepers, ballast, fastenings, substructure, as well as cause rapid deterioration of the track geometry (both in short & long wavelengths). In fact, tracks with bad geometry will: Exhibit faster deterioration compared to good geometry tracks that retain/keep their good shape for longer timespans Have more frequent failures of all track components, causing accidents, traffic disruptions and speed reductions Therefore, track geometry influences all track components and their service lives, so keeping good control of the track quality brings increased revenues from the exploitation of the line by reducing accidents, traffic disruptions and slow orders (speed reductions) as well as M&R cost savings. New measuring systems are available for monitoring various track geometry parameters. They mainly adopt innovative techniques based on no-contact opto-electronic technologies, and no-contact measurement systems based on inertial techniques, instead of traditional old-fashioned contact track measuring systems, which adopted mechanical devices in contact with rails. ROGER system for track geometry and rail profile measuring is fully integrated. In fact, geometrical parameters of the track are obtained from the measurements of the real profile of the rail. The system measures rail profiles first, then it detects the running plane and the point of the head of the rail placed 14mm under this plan (the gauge point). As shown in the Figure 3, measurements of the profile are obtained by means of a laser band sheet. It illuminates the entire surface of the rail head (top and gauge sides).

An inertial system, constituted mainly by inclinometer and rate sensors, is adopted for the measurement of cant and twist. Twist is calculated from the measurement of the cant. All measurements can be effectively carried out in the entire speed range of 0 - 300 km/h, without any influence on the accuracy. Rail wear is calculated by matching the acquired rail profile and the nominal (as new) real profiles (obtained from the database for the known rail types). The right and left rail profiles (inner sides) measurements can be used to process equivalent conicity (and contact gauge angle) with a good resolution according to the number of rail profile points. Integrated measurement of rail profiles and track geometry as in the ROGER system supports cross-correlation analysis of the track. Track geometry and rail profile data, as well as other data (e.g. images) can be correlated and analyzed in an integrated manner. This allows thorough and true analysis of the causes of certain defects (e.g. gauge defects caused by either fastening or rail wear problems) as well as better identification of track conditions. 2.2 Rail Corrugation Rail corrugation is known to create significant increases in dynamic forces, which can considerably deteriorate the longwave track geometry. These two things together again can severely reduce the service lives of all track components. Rail corrugation can cause both surface and internal defects in rails, cracking of concrete sleepers and loosening of the fastenings on the timber sleepers, crushing of the ballast (both as the consequence of the higher dynamic forces, as well as that of repeated tamping initiated by the recurring problems in long-wave track geometry) as well as very dangerous disturbance to the substructure. The causal relationship between the corrugation (as the root cause) and the dynamic forces and track geometry (as the consequences) can best be seen from the corresponding measurements done in Italy as represented within the RAMSYS Asset Management System, Figure 4, which will be described in Chapter 4. In fact on the Figure 4 several such locations can be noticed, and having it displayed in an obvious and user-friendly manner as in RAMSYS it does not even take a lot of expertise to notice the causalities.

Figure 3: Rail profile and track geometry measurement devices No parts of the system are moving (in motion), but each component is rigidly fixed to the vehicle frame. Measurements are realized through lasers, special sensors and cameras. Any speed the vehicles should travel, each 50 cm (and/or also 25 cm) a real profile of the track is taken. Then, through software analysis, the system measures the gauge from the rail profiles. The rail profile and the gauge point serve as the basis for detection of the longitudinal level and alignment of both rails adopting the chord technique. Figure 4: Corrugation consequences

However, what is perhaps most striking is if we were to take now the location as indicated on the Figure 4 and tried to see the progression in time of both Corrugation and its consequences (dynamic forces and track vertical level), we could immediately notice that they all followed identical pattern. If we were now to include the work history view, as seen on the Figure 5, we would see that due to the recurring problem with the track geometry (which in fact was initiated by the high corrugation build-up), this location was repeatedly tamped, and yet the (track geometry) problem was recurring. This was indeed due to the existence of corrugation, which however was never remedied. Instead, what this location needed was grinding and then tamping and it would have then seen much more stable both track geometry and corrugation. It is a pity that the information on the surface and internal defects of rails was not available for that location, but if it was, it would have most probably corroborated the statement that indeed the corrugation on that location has had multiple detrimental consequences, the worst however of which was the one least observable i.e. the build-up of fatigue induced by dynamic-forces in all track components present on that location, significantly reducing their service lives and thus increasing the M&R costs.

2.3 Vehicle Dynamics In order to study the interaction forces which act at the wheelrail contact point and the oscillatory motions to which the vehicle is subjected during the running, different parameters have been introduced to quantify the vehicle safety against derailment, its aggressiveness towards the track and the passengers comfort. Moreover, some types of defects of the track can also be detected from this kind of analysis. Three main classes of systems are available for the measurement of: Wheel-Rail Interaction Forces Bogies and coach real-time accelerations Wheel-Rail Contact Geometry The UIC & European Norms (CEN) require direct measurement of the lateral force Y and the vertical force Q, acted by the wheel on the track, in order to demonstrate safe running conditions (UIC 518). For this purpose, the following monitoring aspects are required Real time Y & Q forces Real time Y/Q ratio Lateral acceleration correlation. Furthermore, the following analyses are also available: Of the Wheel profile with optical technology Of the Wheel-rail coupling, delta-r (r) calculation, angles of contact and equivalent conicity at several values of sigma. Vehicle dynamics measurement are carried out using systems based on Strain Gauges instrumentation on wheels making use of telemetry system for signal extraction, non-contact Laser displacement and accelerometer sensors. In particular, accelerometer sensors detect the mechanical vibrations of railway vehicles. These vibrations depend on the vehicle characteristics (e.g. quality of primary and secondary suspensions, etc.) as well as the quality of the rolling plane (e.g. longitudinal level, alignment, twist, rail joints defects; irregular wear of the rail-wheel contact profile, etc.).

Dynamic Forces Growth of Corrugation over time (5 measurements) Corrugation Level Alignment

Growth of Level over time (6 measurements) Repeated Tamping (green works)

Figure 5: Corresponding time-progression of Corrugation and Track Geometry (Vertical Level) and repeated (unnecessary) Tamping remedying the symptom instead of the root-cause Fully respecting the importance of Corrugation has prompted MER MEC to develop a highly-accurate corrugation measurement system (Figure 6) effectively allowing railways to measure and monitor the existence and build-up of corrugation, and with the help of powerful tools like RAMSYS, to correlate it with other data in order to extract the intrinsic and salient mutual interrelationships and identify the true root causes of the problems and devise the most adequate remedial activities.

3 Automatic Infrastructure Inspection

Railway operators looking for improving safety of their networks must regularly inspect the infrastructure to avoid accidents as well as introduce most cost-efficient ways of carrying out such inspections. Data collected during inspections play an important role for both safety and condition monitoring. For example, the swelling or subsidence of the ballast beds or the presence of objects infringing clearance profile are hazardous for rail vehicles. Rail defects, like black spots, can propagate inwards into the rail-head, and when they reach a dangerous depth, they may propagate downward transversely, producing fractures of the rail, so it is important to keep infrastructure under inspection in order to timely identify the anomalies. Inspections can be done on foot (by walking) or by vehicle, adopting traditional video inspection systems for image

Figure 6: Rail Corrugation Measuring System

acquisition and video capturing, or innovative vision systems for automatic defect detection. Compared to on foot inspection, automatic inspections consume less resources (e.g. time, line interruption, etc.) and moreover they do not require safety measures for allowing people to access the network lines. In general, video and vision systems mounted on-board trains/vehicles provide the possibility of checking different aspects of the entire environment surrounding the infrastructure as well as the infrastructure itself. Moreover, if these systems are integrated with other diagnostic systems, they allow: Linking specific infrastructure defects to possible environmental conditions that might have caused the defects. Evaluating how infrastructure environment evolves and if any change can produce eventual problems to the normal railways activities. Analysis of the images in specific points of the railway network for safety and control purposes. 3.1 Track Surface Inspection Systems With Automatic Defects Detection MER MECs approach to Track Surface Inspection using Vision Technologies is based on the framework composed by 3 subsystems: TSIS: Track Surface Inspection Subsystem Joint Gap and Head Checks Inspection Subsystem TSMS: Track Surface Measurement Subsystem Track Surface Inspection System provides innovative functions for real-time video monitoring of track condition and automatic recognition of resulting defects. Traditional video inspection of the rail surface imposes that specialized personnel analyze visually all the recorded images. This activity is clearly time consuming and potentially hazardous because the results are strictly dependent on the ability of the viewer to detect possible anomalies and report critical situations. As opposed to that, Vision Systems for defect detection automate the defect recognition and speed up the inspection process by reducing the image analysis time as well as increase the reliability of the detection process. The Track Surface Inspection System can be used for: Detection of Sleepers types & moving sleepers Rail fastenings types detection and condition, as well as fastenings in (unwanted) contact with wheel flanges Rail surface defects o Black Holes o Burnings o Rail Break o Crushed Head o Cracks (thickness > 0.7 mm) Base plate condition in absence of ballast and pincers position

Joint Gap measurement estimations & Head Checks Inspection Checks of ballast irregularities, vegetation, structural condition of magnets, pass-throughs, axle counters, AFI and ETCS balises o Detailed analysis o Markings Detection o Missing Bolts o Released Shoulder Plate o Misfit rail pads o Distance/position of Clammers to the sleepers/fastenings
Images Images [HEAD CHECK] Status

Kilometric reference Status

Analyses Historical Section

Analyses Infos

Message Area

Figure 7: Track Surface Inspection System Analysis The Track Surface Defect Detection System is based on the no-contact optical technology using high-speed line-scan cameras for track images acquisition. Enhanced vision algorithms identify and classify defects according to their properties and/or their position in the track. A special illumination system allows the system to operate properly at every light condition. Synchronization with the vehicles encoders allows identification of its position on the track and its kilometric point. The analysis can be done image by image. In real-time, the system extracts rail images, and identifies their position using odometer. The on-board system allows acquisition, processing, displaying and storage of the image-frames of both rails. The post-processing analyzes each image to locate automatically the defects according to their size, position, etc.

Figure 8: Track Surface Inspection System Rail Surface Analysis & Defect Detection

Joint Gap and Head Checks Inspection Subsystem is composed by two high speed cameras, completely integrated with the standard system, which allow automatic detection and highly accurate measurement of rail joint/weld gaps and rail head-checks (their length, width, angle and clustering), and all that at very high speeds reaching 250 km/h. Size/width of rail joints and welds is very important cause it directly influences the rise of dynamic forces, which again decisively influence the life of all track components beneath and in the vicinity. Figure 10: Track Surface Measurement Subsystem

4 Analysis & Planning

The planning phase can be realized by building the appropriate historical knowledge-base supported by further software tools for easy data access/correlation (e.g. work history data), processing and decision-making. In order to fully support/cover the planning phase, MER MEC has designed and developed a special software platform for the overall integrated Asset Management including M&R planning, named RAMSYS (Railway Asset Management SYStem). RAMSYS represents a dedicated system for Railway Infrastructure Maintenance Management designed to help Railway Infrastructure Managers to handle complex multidisciplinary and multidimensional process of infrastructure degradation by integrating all necessary information through advanced visualization (Figure 11) and analytical capabilities necessary for optimal planning of M&R works. RAMSYS system, being extremely complex, requires lot of space for proper description, hence in this paper only the basics will be provided. The main idea however is that it puts full focus on utilizing condition data for work planning. All condition data coming from various Diagnostic Systems are utilized simultaneously, together with the complete history to capture/define the "behavior" of each and every asset and then to use this "historic-perspective" to generate the "forecasted behavior", with the use of sophisticated deterioration models. Only based on the forecasted behavior and comparison to the required quality and incurred costs, the optimal combination of activities (M&R works, as well as inspections) can be defined and proposed for execution. Thus, RAMSYS has the ability to balance Maintenance versus Renewal works, as well as quality versus costs, in order to define the optimal scenario, i.e. the M&R policy/strategy.

Figure 9: Joint Gap and Head Checks Inspection Subsystem Joint/Weld detection & measurement Rail head-checking (rolling contact fatigue RCF, or gauge corner cracking - GCC defects) in turn has become an issue of an outmost importance for railways World-wide in the recent years due to their sudden and often worryingly drastic rise observed in the recent years. RCF defects like head-checks, if left unattended could develop very quickly and turn into rail breaks of often fatal consequences, as could have been seen from the tragic accident at Hatfield, UK, where four people were killed and a further seventy injured. When a preliminary investigation found that a rail had fragmented while the train had passed over it, and that the likely cause was GCC, it led to temporary speed restrictions being imposed on huge lengths of Britain's railways, effectively crippling many routes, while checks were carried out on the rails. Being able to monitor this obviously critical phenomenon/defect, and especially in such an accurate, reliable and above all efficient manner like with the above system with automatic detection capabilities, railways can make proper assessments of the situation and its gravity as well as decide on adequate actions to be taken (typically grinding, if not too late or re-railing) in a timely manner, thus drastically improving the safety of the railway traffic. Track Surface Measurement Subsystem adopts area scan cameras in association with a set of laser blades to accurately measure the position of various track objects, with the aim of executing the following verifications that require high intensity processing: Detection of ballast irregularities Vegetation check Distance measurement between different rail fastening components Checking of the structural condition of magnets, passthrough, axle counters, AFI, ETCS balises

a) Integrating various data in the same View

Track Track S egm ents Segm ents

Dynam ic Forces Dynam ic Forces M easurem ents M easurem ents

C hange of Corrugation Change of Corrugation over tim e for the over tim e for the selected stretch selected stretch

Corrugation C orrugation M easurem ents M easurem ents Track Quality Track Q uality M easurem ents M easurem ents

W ork History Work History

MER MEC systems described in this paper are aimed at developing a comprehensive solution including proper set of measuring, inspection and analysis tools for supporting not only the diagnostics of the railway infrastructure but also the planning of M&R works and improving the assertive power in taking M&R decisions. The full solution can be configured according to the railway owner/operator/maintainers needs taking into account budget as well as other aspects of railway infrastructure to monitor and maintenance processes in place. Main benefits of the described systems include: Reliable and fast data collection Measurements are in the digital format and as such they can directly be used to build a historical knowledge base to be used for advanced analysis Earlier/timely identification and correction of critical defects and mitigation of risks of critical defect occurrence Efficient usage of track access times, thus increasing track availability for the revenue traffic as well as freeing the scarce time for other important engineering works Measurements and data related to different aspects of the infrastructure can be integrated and correlated Transition from corrective to on-condition and predictive-preventive maintenance Choosing optimized M&R plans based on true infrastructure conditions The ultimate goal however is of course to increase the infrastructure safety and availability at minimum of (M&R) costs, which definitely justifies and pays off all the investments and efforts necessary for deployment of a full solution for implementing in an effective manner the fullscale condition-based maintenance chain.

S ystem S ystem M anagem ent M anagem ent

Asset Asset Inventory Inventory

b) Condition-measurements vs. Infra. Assets inventory

T rack layout Track layout Video Inspection V ideo Inspection Im ag es Im ages O H L H eight, Stagger O H L H eight, Stagger & W ear & W ear

R ail W ear R ail W ear M easurem ents M easurem ents

Track Q uality T rack Quality M easurem ents M easurem ents

W ork H istory W ork H istory

D ynam ic Forces D ynam ic Forces M easurem ents M easurem ents

C orrugation C orrugation M easurem ents M easurem en ts

OH L OHL In ventory In ven tory Asset Inventory Asset In ventory

System System Managem ent M anagem ent

c) Layout vs. Raw Track Geometry Measurem. vs. Work History & Infrast. Assets Inventory & Photographs/movies
User-definable User-definable Threshold Threshold Work History Work History

Degradation Degradation Trend Trend

Measured Measured Work History Work History Values Values

Planned Work Planned Work

System System Management Management

List of Parameters shown in List of Parameters shown in the View and their the View and their characteristics characteristics

d) Integrated Deterioration Modeling and Forecasting view Figure 11: Examples of RAMSYS Advanced Visualization

6 References
[1] G. Aurisicchio, et al, Infrastructure Monitoring Systems for Improved Operation and Safety in CVRD, 8th International Heavy Haul Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, (2005) [2] G. Aurisicchio, et al, A fuzzy logic based filter for spike-noise detection in railways monitoring systems, IEEE International Workshop on Soft Computing in Industrial Applications, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York, (2003) [3] S. Jovanovic, Track Quality Analysis and Consequent Decision Making, 8th International Heavy Haul Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, (2005) [4] S. Jovanovic, Railway Track Quality Assessment and related Decision Making, The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association (AREMA) 2006 Annual Conference, Louisville, USA (2006)

5 Conclusion
The described diagnostic systems and consequently the use of the acquired data, play fundamental role for any railway infrastructure owner/manager and/or operator mainly for two reasons. First, infrastructure in poor condition and with poor performance compromises the railway network operations and safety and can cause high-cost consequences such as corrective maintenance, traffic interruptions and speed reductions. Second, M&R management represents the largest part of railways expenditures as well as requires significant resources (i.e. people, material, machines and/or line interruptions / possessions), so even the smallest planning errors can cause tremendous detrimental consequences. On the other hand, even the marginal improvements in the control and management of the infrastructure could yield significant absolute savings.